Another green smoothie for you! What’s exciting about this one is that it is banana-free. Don’t get me wrong…I have nothing against bananas. In fact they are a staple in my kitchen. But I love this smoothie because it’s sweetened only with the most nutrient-dense, high-fiber, low(ish) sugar fruits. (No offense, bananas. I still love you and your lower fiber, higher starch attributes). Enjoy this nutritious start to your day!

Ingredients

2 handfuls spinach or chard (about 2 cups)

1 cup fresh or frozen pitted cherries

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 cup milk of choice (I use unsweetened almond milk)

1 tbsp chia seed (optional)

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (probably optional, but if you omit this, you may need to add more fruit to keep the spinach from overpowering the flavors)

It’s been hot around here lately. Hot, as in – my coconut oil is completely clear and liquid in my cupboard.

So, cooking up oatmeal is the last thing I want to do in the morning. Seeing as how I rarely have the forethought to make overnight oats the night before, smoothies are my go-to. This one turned out pretty darn tasty. The flavor is something between sweet and tart, reminding me a little of those SweetTart candies….hence, the name!

Directions

Serves 2

1 1/2 to 1 2/3 cups frozen peaches

1 cup frozen strawberries

2 tbs chia seed (optional, but really good)

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional)

Just enough milk to run the blender smoothly – I used unsweetened coconut milk

Hello everybody! The good news is – my camera (and therefore blog) is back in action! The bad news is – I’m heading overseas again for two weeks this weekend. Well, this should keep you busy.

I’ve had quite a kombucha obsession for a while, particularly GT Dave’s Gingerade Kombucha. But my pocketbook was begging me to quit the habit, as those little 16-oz bottle run about $4 a pop.

Enter homebrewing.

A friend gave me a SCOBY, the disc of bacteria and yeast necessary to ferment sweetened black tea into kombucha. If you don’t know anybody that brews, you can order them online. They are really good at making babies so it should be a one time purchase. Consider yourself warned though: SCOBYs are not pretty.

The actual process is really simple. This source is a really good guide, as is this one. I recommend reading through instructions before you start. Here are my simplified tips in summary of what I’ve learned:

Don’t use metal utensils with the SCOBY or kombucha

Don’t wash your hands with antibacterial soap before you handle the SCOBY. Rinse them well with water and pour vinegar over your hands before you touch it

It works best with plain black tea, nothing flavored like earl grey.

It works best with plain, old-fashioned white sugar. Maple, honey, turbinado sugar, agave, etc. won’t work because they cause the wrong pH for fermenting. This is the only use for white sugar that I recommend! 🙂

You can use tap water but it works best with purified, filtered water without the added fluoride and other minerals.

Watch for signs of cross contamination like mold, or damage to the SCOBY like black spots.

1. Make sweet tea! Combine the water and sugar, and then add tea bags when it reaches a boil. I have a 1 gallon container so I made 1.5 gallons of water, used 1.5 cups white sugar, and 12 teabags. If you have a smaller container you can use these amounts: 1 quart water, 2 teabags, and 1/4 cup sugar.

2. Let it steep a long time. I did 10 minutes. You want it a lot stronger than you would if you were drinking it.

3. Let the tea cool completely. If it’s too warm, it can kill or damage the SCOBY.

5. Cover with the clean towel, and rubberband it. The SCOBY may float, sink, or hang out somewhere in the middle. All are normal.

6. Allow it to sit and ferment for 1-4 weeks. A “baby” SCOBY will start to form over the top surface. At 1 week, begin tasting it periodically. I used a straw – slid it down past the baby forming, covered the top opening with my finger, and pulled some up like a pipet.

7. When you like how it tastes, it’s time for the second fermentation – where you flavor the kombucha and/or allow it to carbonate. I used small mason jars but I’ve heard flip-top bottles are much better. The second fermentation lasts 5-14 days. It’s ready when you like the flavor. Here are my recipes for the three flavors:

It all began when I was out of almond milk (gasp!), but remembered the sale on coconut milk last week at the corner store. Thank goodness for properly stocked pantries!

About the greens: I usually use spinach, or a spinach/kale combo, because spinach’s flavor blends in really well (so you can squeeze more in before the flavor starts to change). If you have a high-powered blender, kale will do wonderfully; if not, you might end up having to chew your smoothie. I’ve recently started using fresh rainbow or swiss chard, and it works great! I also found a bag of packaged “power greens” in the packaged salads section at the grocery store, containing baby bok choy, baby red/green chard, collard greens, mustard greens, and red spinach. Greens like that are a lot more flavorful (read: bitter) so I either use more banana or less greens. Play around with the amounts to suit your tastes.

Ingredients

Makes 2 medium-sized smoothies

2-3 cups greens of your choice (see note above)

1 15-0z can coconut milk (full fat or light)

1-2 medium ripe bananas (fresh or frozen)

1 cup peach slices (fresh or frozen)

1 tbs orange juice concentrate (or 1/2 cup orange juice)

optional: 1 tbs chia seeds

optional: 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

optional: shredded coconut for topping

Directions

Add all ingredients in a blender, with the greens first. Blend until smooth. Adjust ingredient amounts to suit your tastes. Top with shredded coconut if desired.

Here is a quick, end-of-summer refresher to kick off your weekend. Maybe it’s just me, but basil seems to be all the rage right now…popping up in everything from ice cream to smoothies and cocktails. Since lemon and basil are such a killer combination for savory dishes, I had to try it sweetened and summer-d up! Loved how it turned out.

Ingredients

1/3 cup lemon juice

14 ice cubes

sweetener of choice (I used 1/4 cup agave nectar…use more/less to taste. How tart do you like it?)

3 large leaves (or 5 sm/md leaves) of fresh basil

Water (just a splash)

Directions

In a blender, add the lemon juice and ice cubes. Add a little water as necessary to keep the ice crushing smoothly.

Hello everyone! I recently returned from a trip and while I was gone, I was nominated for two blog awards! I’m sorry for the delay in my response…but here it is! Get excited for all the wonderful blog links you are about to discover. 🙂 Also, I hope this doesn’t make me the world’s worst blogger, but I might combine them…I’ve always been bad at coming up with random things about myself, haha

First, Beyond The Green Door has graciously nominated me for the Illuminating Blogger Award! Thank you so much! Theirs is definitely a blog you’ll want to check out if you haven’t already…chock full of brilliant ideas relating to all things entertaining, home management, and, of course, recipes.

My nominations for this award are: (Go check out these wonderful bloggers!)

Also, Lazy Hippie Mama was kind enough to nominate me for the Versatile Blogger Award. Her site has lots and lots of interesting thoughts relating to all sorts of topics, and I always love to hear what she has to say.

And…last but definitely not least, Dare to Eat a Peach has nominated me for the Lovely Blogger Award! So kind of her! This is a blog that will make you drool, so it’s definitely worth keeping your eye on.

Welcome!

I'm glad you stopped by. Becca's Green Kitchen is a healthy vegetarian recipe blog. I try to create dishes are simple, plant-centered, and nourishing. My philosophy? I enjoy food that is good in every sense of the word: richly health-honoring, cruelty-free and environmentally conscious, and, of course, delicious.

Let's get cooking, shall we?

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